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Even the savviest entrepreneurs doesn’t know it all. They partner
with a vendor for help with a specific aspect of their business,
not realizing many vendors will discretely provide critical
information about macro-level topics.

As the CEO of a software company, I visit our clients on a
recurring basis. Once on a visit to the Stanford Center for
Professional Development, then-Executive Director Andy DiPaolo
invited me into his office and abruptly asked, “Shaul, you visit
schools all over the country, What are you seeing out there? What
are schools doing that’s innovative and unique? What do you see
coming down the line? What’s your perspective on the future?”

I was dumbstruck, as if I was being tested, before I realized
that Andy, a well-respected, insightful individual, believed my
perspective was just as valuable to him as our software running
his division. He made me realize that, through my travels and
interactions, I was in a unique position to analyze information
on numerous units and provide a perspective that, in its
totality, would be different from any one of the inputs. I
realized my perspective was greater than the sum of its parts.

Vendors know about more than just the products or services they
sell. Astute vendors see both the forest and the trees.
Dealing with a plethora of customers provides a broader view of
the industry than the vantage point of any individual
client. Associations and conferences try to provide a holistic
view but one annual event can't substitute for conversations with
many stakeholders, across the country, every day.

Vendors compete with other vendors but they also compete, in a
sense, with in-house processes. If your staff can adequately and
efficiently handle a job, there’s no need for outside
help. Vendors have to understand best practices and solve
problems in an efficient and cost-effective way.

An entrepreneur must be an expert in their core business, but it
is an inefficient use of resources to try being an expert is
every peripheral process. For example, our firm serves the higher
education marketplace. The institutions we work with are experts
in educating students and ensuring those students become
successful alumni. Digital infrastructure is critical to their
business but it isn’t their core expertise. On the other hand, we
are in the tech business. We understand things like why PA-DSS
security certifications matters, the importance of intelligent
workflows and best practices for disaster recovery.

While expertise is important, so are cold hard costs. The bottom
line is that when businesses focus on their core competencies,
they don’t have to worry about creating one-offs without any kind
of economy of scale.

Vendors see first-hand what clients struggle with and excel at.
Understanding specific micro issues is important for a company.
When you can overlay that onto the macro industry landscape, new
ideas become revolutionary. Trends are easier to see and
strategic priorities become apparent. From this awareness comes
an understanding and insight that is truly valuable. It is this
knowledge that, properly harnessed, manifests itself in vendor
products, services and even informal conversations, to move your
industry into the future.

While vendors don’t have all the answers either, entrepreneurs
can benefit greatly from their vast experiences. You just need to
ask.